HOBOKEN — If you lived in Scranton – ever watch “The Office”? – then you’d want easy rail service to Hoboken (and thus, access to New York City), too.
According to StandardSpeaker.com:
“Attempts to secure funding to restore passenger rail service from Scranton to Hoboken, N.J., continue as area congressmen meet with Obama administration officials and make 2011 appropriation requests.
A renewed effort to secure money began in January after the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Pennsylvania’s application for $401 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds under a high-speed intercity passenger rail program had failed.
… area legislators, who are meeting with administration officials, also could place funding for the project in a new six-year federal highway bill.
Larry Smar, Sen. Bob Casey’s spokesman, said the senator has made the Lackawanna Cut-Off “a priority” in appropriations request. He said the senator has spoken directly with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The authority owns 60 miles of rail from Scranton to the Delaware Water Gap, where the track ends. Officials hope to extend the rail line from the Delaware Water Gap to Hoboken, N.J.”